Japanese swimming star Kosuke Kitajima has warned against any complacency in his defense of the double Olympic breaststroke titles after US rival Brendan Hansen failed to qualify for the 200m race.
"It was unfortunate, indeed," Kitajima said of Hansen's flop as he returned home from a month of altitude training in Flagstaff, Arizona, Japanese dailies reported Wednesday.
"They say I am favored. But there is no change in my determination to achieve my goal without fail," the 25-year-old Kitajima told reporters at Tokyo's Narita airport on Tuesday.
At the US Olympic trials earlier this month, Hansen booked a 100m Olympic berth but foundered in the 200m by finishing fourth.
Last month, Kitajima slashed Hansen's two-year-old 200m world record by 0.99 seconds to 2:07.51 in a domestic meet, wearing Speedo's blockbuster LZR Racer bodysuit for the first time.
But Kitajima was sure that Hansen, who still holds the 100m world record of 59.13, would go all out in the shorter distance, the first breakstroke event in the Beijing Games.
"Regardless of my opponent's condition, I will go out to win," Kitajima said about the 100m in which his personal record is 0.31 seconds slower than Hansen's mark.
"The 100m will be important as it will give me an impetus ahead of the 200m," he said. "I have a special feeling for that event."
At the 2004 Athens Games, he added Olympic golds to his world titles one month after Hansen shattered the Japanese's world records in both distances.
Kitajima has not beaten Hansen head to head since 2005, while the American, who will turn 27 in August, kept lowering world marks.
Kitajima is scheduled to train in Tokyo and Beijing, and on the South Korean resort island of Jeju ahead of the Olympics due to open in three weeks.
"Training from now on will determine my results in the actual races. It will be important to keep that in mind," he said.
(AFP via China Daily July 18, 2008)